Entertainment

Say Hello to the New Flipboard [PICS]

Flipboard, which Apple recently named the iPad app of the year, has released a new edition of its popular social news reader for the tablet device.

Now users can browse photos from their Flickr streams and stories from Google Reader as well as items shared by Facebook and Twitter friends, all in Flipboard's [iTunes link] signature magazine-style format.

In addition, users can also now post Facebook status updates, tweets and photos from anywhere within the app, and they can easily share favorite content across networks (e.g., share a favorite tweet to Facebook and vice versa).

It's also easier to navigate between and zoom in on items shared across these networks. App users can sort through content by looking at shared and starred posts as well as individual folders (though not unread items, unfortunately) on Google Reader as well as favorites, groups and other feeds in Flickr. I love how the looks from fashion bloggers I have favorited on Flickr automatically assemble into inspiration boards in the app.

Users also have more options for sifting through Facebook content. Instead of seeing only the entire Facebook news feed, users can opt only to see their friends' photos or receive news just from their groups, friend lists or Pages they like.

But Flipboard isn't just about sorting through the content users currently consume on their desktops and mobile devices; it's also designed to help them discover great new sources of information. Flipboard has dozens upon dozens of curated news and photo feeds, and the app makes it easy to add new ones to users' existing repertoire or to the table of contents for quick front-page access.

The goal, co-founder Evan Doll says, is to make Flipboard "the one place you can go to get your social content fix altogether." While it's not quite there yet, the latest version of Flipboard has certainly eliminated my need to have a separate app for perusing my Google Reader feed. And with more partnerships with magazines and other publications, it could conceivably eliminate my need to have separate app for those publishers as well.

Do you use Flipboard? What other apps do you use to read news on the iPad?

Screenshot Gallery

Flipboard Version 1.1

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